Precious Moment
by Scath Rocco Meoi
Summary: Maes finds Roy sleeping in the office again, but when he wakes him up to take him home, Roy is anything but pleased. The reason why is the real surprise. RoyXMaes Shounen-ai One-shot


**A.N.: **It was a Saturday morning, beginning of November, at six o'clock that I woke up with the idea for this story… Of course I couldn't sleep after that and started writing it. I finished it in an hour or so, but only now I found the time to type it and finally post it. I hope those who like the couple will be satisfied with this fic, I myself am very happy with it. ;)

_**Precious Moment**_

It was eight o'clock of a beautiful Sunday morning, and the offices should've been empty, but Maes knew they were not and he knew exactly who was still there. He found him sleeping soundly, head on his desk, dark hair falling over his eyes. Maes sighed and, placing his usual smile back on his face, approached his sleeping friend and shook him gently by the shoulder.

"Roy, buddy, time to go." He whispered as the other man stirred lightly, dark eyes opening slowly, but the sleepiness that shone within those orbs was instantly replaced by shock and even a little anger.

"What are you doing here, Maes?" Roy quickly moved to a sitting position, his back and neck were completely sore but he ignored them.

"I'm waking sleeping beauty here up. It's Sunday morning already, Roy." The other man didn't mind the glare he was receiving from his friend, even though it seemed harder than usual.

"Please, leave." The shorter man allowed his gaze to fall back to the papers he'd been signing the night before, his hand rubbing his forehead in an attempt to make the tiredness go away.

"Roy, I'm not kidding. I mean, I was kidding about the sleeping beauty thing but I really came to get you out of here." Maes tried to convince him, his smile wavering just a little bit. He knew his friend wasn't a morning person but he couldn't remember the last time he had been so cold.

"I asked you to leave." Roy repeated with a furrowed eyebrow, though his eyes were closed.

"Come on, mate.... You can't really mean that." Golden eyes couldn't hide their surprise and confusion anymore, the trademark smile was no longer there.

"I _do _mean that." The younger man said harshly as he turned his gaze back to his friend. He wondered if he was the only one who had ever seen the smile disappear from that face, he didn't want to be, or maybe he did because that would mean they would have something shared only by the two of them.

"But, Roy, I... I'm you best friend! You can't just throw me out like that." Maes continued to protest, not that he wasn't aware of the fury glowing in his superior's dark eyes.

"I can't? And why, do you think, I work myself to exhaustion like this?" Roy knew he was allowing his emotions to take control, he knew that was a big mistake but he was just too tired to care.

"Why?" the bearded man had never thought about that and so he was struck speechless for a few seconds. "Because you're a workaholic? Hell, Roy! How could I know? You never let me in on your personal life! You never allow me to help you!" they were both losing it now. This couldn't come to a good end.

"You cannot help me!" the flame alchemist stood up suddenly, the chair screeching against the floor. "No one can!"

"How can you be so sure? Have you told me what the problem is?" Maes waited patiently but the answer never came. Only their ragged breaths broke the silence. "No, you haven't."

"Do you really wanna know, Maes? Why I work as much as I do?" his gaze turned to the window, to the sunny day outside, and Roy sighed, they could've been out there chatting and laughing, like real best friends would. He felt even more tired all of a sudden.

"I want to know, Roy. I really do." The taller man studied the other's face, for a second he thought his friend would just change the subject and move on but he didn't.

"I do this because of you."

"Because of me?" the surprise in his voice was obvious though Roy was still looking through the window as he used to do when speaking about serious matters. "How could that be?"

"If I stop working only for a second I start thinking about you and I can't stand that anymore." He turned back to his gapping friend in his desperation. "I know you're married and I know this is wrong but I can't stop loving you, Maes. I..." black eyes searched golden ones for any sign of anything. There was none. "I'm sorry."

Maes wanted to say something, he really did, but there were no words. He would've never thought he was the reason behind his best friend's misery and he didn't feel guilty because, truth be told, it was not his fault, but still he wanted to say something. Anything. In the end, all he could do was watch as Roy shook his head slowly, probably already regretting what had been said.

"Just leave, Maes. It'll be better this way."

"Roy…" he took a step forward, but what could he really say? What did the man in front of him want him to say? He surely looked hopeful standing there tired and sore, bathed in sunlight. "I don't know if I can or rather should do what you want me to."

"And that would be?" the alchemist asked with raised eyebrows.

"To leave, of course."

"Just walk to the door, open it and then close it behind your back. It's pretty simple, Maes."

"Yeah, I guess it is." The older man laughed lightly at the explanation. "But still I won't do it."

Roy sighed rubbing his temples with one hand, as if he wasn't tired enough. "Stop being so stubborn."

"Come on, buddy. You can't expect me to leave without a word after what you've just said."

"Well, then…" the younger man sat back behind his desk turning the chair towards his friend. "Tell me what you want to and leave."

"It seems to me you are ashamed of your feelings."

"Of course I am ashamed! You are my best friend! My best _married _friend." He couldn't have been more annoyed. "Stop stating the obvious, Maes."

"I meant you are ashamed of being in love, not necessarily with me, because everybody knows how hard you try to look like an emotionless machine."

"You know that's the only way I can cope with everything that has happened…" Roy looked away, that was too much, he couldn't deal with so many emotions, that's why he'd told the other man to leave, he didn't want to break down in front of him.

"Roy, look at me." Maes sighed when the other ignored him so he took a few steps towards his friend, crouched down besides his chair and with two fingers seized the alchemist's chin and turned his head back to him. "If you had trusted me with your problems since the beginning the burden wouldn't have grown so heavy and there would've been other ways."

"You know now why I couldn't 'trust' you…"

"Because you love me is the exact reason why you _should have _trusted me."

"Oh, really?" he turned away again, anger and skepticism were good shields. "And what would you have told me back then if I had confessed my feelings for you?"

"I would have told you with all my heart that I shared them." Roy turned back as fast as he'd turned away, dark orbs searching golden ones for any trace of lies, there was none. "I have loved you, Roy, for just as long but how could I know you'd accept it? You were always the Don Juan kind of guy, going after every single girl you laid your eyes on."

"Just so that I could concentrate on something other than you!" guilty, he felt guilty, if he had only trusted Maes, if he had only risked it! "I'm sorry, Maes. It's… It's all my fault. I… I deserve to be alone now. Forever."

"Roy, it is too late for us to be together now, but…" he cleared his throat. "Do you think that, maybe, just one time…"

"I would never forgive myself if I wasted this opportunity."

"Neither would I."

And so, with shaking hands, they reached for each other, for the first and last time. Their own precious moment.


End file.
